Punch the Clock is the first Elvis Costello album that feels like a step back. As a followup to Imperial Bedroom, this collection of mostly lightweight pop songs was rather anticlimactic.
Most confounding is the production, polished and packaged, complete with girl-group backing vocals. Whether this was Costello’s direction or a record label suggestion, I don’t know, but it feels wrong.
That said, the album does contain some great songwriting. ‘Shipbuilding’ is one of Elvis’ most gorgeous ballads, ‘Pills and Soap’ is an offbeat trippy treat and hit single ‘Everyday I Write the Book’ is an unabashed delight that benefits from the glossy production.
So now we come to Imperial Bedroom, the second album in my Costello Holy Trinity and probably my favorite of his records. To paraphrase Ed Wood in Tim Burton’s film: “This is the one they’ll remember him for!”
With today’s selection, I’m breaking from my usual rule of featuring only album cuts. This is an interesting clip of ‘Shot With His Own Gun’… it appears to have been filmed as a simple music video more than a live performance. I’m not sure where it originally aired.
In 1979, Costello stirred up controversy and damaged his career with some drunken racist remarks about Ray Charles and James Brown. He made them in a bar during a fight with some other musicians and days later saw them plastered on the news.
Once in awhile an album or song you’ve owned for awhile winds up surprising you. Maybe you never really gave it a proper listen in the first place or maybe something in you changed in the meantime and you’re somehow hearing it with fresh ears.
Meet Me In Montauk 